All parts of baneberry contain poisonous compounds and sensitive people can get symptoms just from touching the stems. Its leaves can be up to half a metre (20 in.) long and almost as wide. The inflorescence is modest in relation to the size of the plant: even in bunches it has only two or three stems which have only a few dozen flowers. Baneberry attracts its pollinators in shady broad-leaved forests with its bright white flowers and its fragrance: some people liken it to fresh grapefruit, while others find it disgusting. In broad-leaved forests pollinators include a fruitworm species Byturus ochraceus, which lives in herb Bennet (Geum urbanum). Around fields close to the edge of the forest it might also be visited by rape blossom beetles. The plants are pollinated by flies in coniferous forests where beetles are not present. Baneberry also self-pollinates and unfertilised flowers also develop into berries – although there is reason to suspect if seeds from unfertilized flowers actually germinate.

In Lapland and the north-east of Finland baneberry is replaced by red baneberry (A. erythrocarpa), which can be differentiated by its more lobed (4–5 times pinnately lobed) and lighter coloured leaves, as well as its red berries.